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Houllier draws cold comfort as Drogba denies Liverpool

RECENT events have led many Liverpool supporters to re-evaluate their stance during a winter of discontent, but the green shoots of recovery were hardly in evidence last night on a bitterly cold evening that left Gérard Houllier with a familiar numb feeling.

Milan Baros raised the temperature at Anfield with a goal ten minutes into the second half, but a late equaliser by Didier Drogba means that, if Liverpool are to retain any hope of winning the Uefa Cup, they must do it the hard way, in a white-hot atmosphere at the Stade Vélodrome on March 25.

Marseilles evidently believe that they have one foot in the quarter-finals — where they would face Inter Milan or Benfica — to judge from the sounds of triumphalism that were…